507. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Education and Youth if a school (details supplied) with an exceptionally high concentration of socio-economic disadvantage and complex educational needs can be reassessed for DEIS status given it has been a number of years since an assessment has taken place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64520/26]

508. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Education and Youth the reason a school (details supplied) with an exceptionally high concentration of socio-economic disadvantage and complex educational needs was excluded from DEIS; if she will review this decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64519/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 507 and 508 together.

Addressing educational disadvantage in all schools remains a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth.

The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. Schools that were included in the most recent expansion of the DEIS programme in 2022 were those with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage as identified through the refined DEIS identification model. This model took into consideration the significant disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and of students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation. A detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie.

It is important to stress that where schools are not identified through the refined DEIS identification model, this does not imply that disadvantage does not exist in the school community.

The new DEIS Strategy to 2035 sets out a long-term plan to address educational disadvantage in all schools and work to ensure that any child and young person experiencing educational disadvantage is supported through their education journey.

The DEIS Strategy implementation plan 2026-2028, under the strategic objective 2.2, sets out to develop an agile resource allocation model to support children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage in all primary and post-primary schools.

These actions focus on the continued enhancement of the data to measure school level disadvantage and for the development of a more flexible resource allocation model that can react to change in schools needs and provide the right resources and the right time.

· 2.2.1 Align the allocation of DEIS resources to the refined DEIS identification model and most up to date data. Timeline for completion: 2028.

· 2.2.2 Develop a new DEIS resource allocation model that: supports schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage; supports children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools; is dynamic and has the potential to adjust to changes in a school’s levels of need including amalgamations; uses objective data to equitably allocate resources to schools. Timeline for completion: 2027

· 2.2.3 Conduct an impact assessment on any potential changes to the allocation of resources to schools, ensuring that no child or young person is negatively impacted. Timeline for completion: 2027

In light of these actions and current budget constraints there is currently no intention to expand the DEIS programme. Any future allocation of resources under the DEIS programme will be considered over the lifetime of the DEIS Strategy to 2035 and in the context of available resources.

There are also a range of universal supports available to all schools to support children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. These include:

• National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological service to all primary and post-primary schools and special schools to support the well-being, academic, social and emotional development of all learners.

• The Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation provides a unified allocation for special education support teaching needs to each school based on each school’s educational profile and also encompasses an element of English as an additional language (EAL) support allocation. Under this SET model, schools are frontloaded with resources to provide support immediately to those pupils who need it without delay.

• Free schoolbooks are provided to all children and young people in the free education system.

• Inspectorate support helps improve education provision for all children and young people. They promote best practice and school improvement by advising teachers, principals and boards of management in schools.

• Through the Department of Social Protection, the School Meals Programme provides regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The Hot School Meals Programme is available to all primary schools, meaning that approximately 3,700 schools and organisations and 682,000 children are now eligible for the Schools Meals Programme.